HC notices to BBMP chief, KSPCB

The High Court on Monday issued notices to the BBMP commissioner and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) on a PIL alleging that the Palike is not able to tackle the garbage problem and that the authorities are not looking into the problems of pourakarmikas.

A Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen before which the PIL came up for hearing also issued a notice to the Additional Director General of Police, BMTF.

In the petition, one A Manjula had said neither the state government nor the BBMP had come up with a scientific and viable method to maintain cleanliness and hygiene in the city. They had also not been able to uplift the socio-economic status of the pourakarmikas, the petitioner added.

Manjula had also said garbage tender forms were issued by suppressing facts and officials were misleading courts and the public with ambiguous statistics.

Most of the pourakarmikas had been solely dependent on the BBMP for work for about 40 years, and more than 70 per cent of them were women, the petitioner said. The pourakarmikas were demanding setting up of a committee to consider their grievances, the petitioner added.